Gilbert: Rice not qualified for playoff committee

The "leak" that former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice will serve on the team selection committee for the College Football Playoff in 2014 has kicked up a firestorm of controversy.

In short, multiple football experts say her knowledge of the game is so thin that making her a member of the committee is an act of rank stupidity.

But, what would you expect from the CFP director, Bill Hancock, college football's most notorious self-serving executive?

Hancock was the mouthpiece of the much-maligned Bowl Championship Series, and now he has jockeyed himself into the directorship of the new College Football Playoff.

The BCS comes to an end after this season, to be replaced by the new four-team playoff following the 2014 regular season, and the commissioners of the big five conferences have a chance to launch the new playoff with a clean slate, a team selection committee with impeccable credentials.

Yet, these commissioners are on the verge of tainting the new playoff before it even begins. Some of those reportedly to be named to the committee have direct active ties to football programs, a clear conflict of interest.

I've had an uneasy feeling about the committee for months, and others also are now expressing their reservations about the qualifications of people being selected to serve.

The issue is this: Is Hancock about to preside over another public relations train wreck?

Former Alabama coach Gene Stallings is unequivocal in his concern that unqualified people are likely to be appointed - thus tainting the playoff before it begins.

Those who serve should have extensive background in the game, and haphazardly choosing people with no credentials will be a great disservice to the game.

Former Auburn coach Pat Dye pulled no punches: "All she knows about football is what somebody told her."

Dye went further. "To understand football, you've got to play with your hand in the dirt," he said. "How the hell does she know what it's like out there when you can't get your breath and it's 110 degrees and the coach asks you to go some more?"

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, on the other hand, sees no problem with Rice serving on the selection committee.

"Why not?" Spurrier responded when asked about Rice. "She's a Stanford graduate and plays a little golf." Rice last year became only the second woman admitted to membership at Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters tournament.

ESPN analyst David Pollack said committee members should be former football players, "guys that can watch tape" to logically compare the strengths of legitimate championship contenders.

Sports Illustrated's Mike Rosenberg said Rice is "smart enough, diligent enough" but clearly does not have any depth of football knowledge on her resume.

Basic intelligence aside, I believe the committee members should possess extensive football knowledge and experience.

I find it impossible to explain why the conference commissioners would expose the playoff to immediate criticism by naming committee members with little or no football background.

Why subject the playoff to unnecessary criticism at the outset?

Picking an unqualified panel could doom the College Football Playoff before the first game is even played.

Five on the list are active athletics directors with obvious conflicts of interest: Alvarez (Wisconsin), Haden (Southern Cal), Long (Arkansas), Radakovich (Clemson) and Luck (West Virginia).

The credentials of the others: Gould, retired Air Force general and former Air Force Academy superintendent; Jernstedt, former NCAA executive who worked with the basketball selection committee; Tranghese, former Big East commissioner; Osborne, former coach and AD at Nebraska; Manning, former college and NFL quarterback and former president of the College Football Hall of Fame; Willingham, former Stanford coach; and Wieberg, veteran college football writer.

The committee will select (1) the four teams that advance to the three-game College Football Playoff beginning after the 2014 regular season and (2) six teams for the Cotton, Fiesta and Chick-fil-A bowls.

Columnist Bob Gilbert, former Associated Press reporter, retired University of Tennessee news director, and author of the Bob Neyland biography , can be reached at rwgilbert@charter.net

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Gilbert: Rice not qualified for playoff committee

The 'leak' that former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice will serve on the team selection committee for the College Football Playoff in 2014 has kicked up a firestorm of controversy.